Shek

Iran: Nuclear program stepped up - CNN.com

Iran: Nuclear program stepped up
POSTED: 11:53 a.m. EDT, April 9, 2007

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday the country's nuclear fuel production program had reached "industrial" levels, setting Tehran on a fresh collision course with Western governments over its atomic ambitions.

A U.S. State Department spokesman said the announcement was "another signal Iran is in defiance of the international community." Iran has already faced United Nations sanctions over its refusal to back down from developing nuclear fuel.

"Iran has succeeded in development to attain production at an industrial level," said Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, addressing an audience at the Natanz nuclear facility as part of a ceremony marking the anniversary of the start of uranium enrichment at the plant.

"With great pride, I announce that as of today, our dear country, Iran, is among the countries of the world that produces the industrial level of nuclear fuel."

Ahmadinejad vowed the fuel would be used for energy, "and for the expansion of peace and stability."

He added that the goal of "progress" for Iran was "irreversible."

Earlier, Iranian nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh said: "We have gathered, thanking Almighty God for the introduction of the uranium enrichment program to the industrial phase, and once again we thank Almighty God for allowing us to attain industrial enrichment plans."

Iran has repeatedly said uranium enrichment, which the United Nations has demanded it stop, is its right and will not be abandoned. The 15-member Security Council voted unanimously last month to pass Resolution 1747.

The U.S. and other nations contend that Iran is using the project to develop nuclear weapons, a claim Iran denies.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called Monday's development a "missed opportunity" for Iranian leaders to have announced the suspension of uranium enrichment in response to international concerns.

But McCormack said no one disputed Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy, adding: "There is a negotiation alternative."

Germany's Foreign Ministry, which currently holds the EU presidency, said the move showed Iran was "definitively going in the wrong direction," The Associated Press reported.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told reporters that the country would be forced to review its membership of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if it continued to face international pressure over its nuclear ambitions, Reuters reported.

"If they continue to pressure Iran over its peaceful nuclear activities we have no other choice but to follow parliament's order and review our membership of the NPT," said Larijani.

But in a speech earlier Monday reported by Iranian state media, Larijani said Tehran hoped to reach an agreement with Western powers that would "remove their worries" without compromising its own scientific development.

"Today, with the nuclear fuel cycle complete, we are ready to begin real negotiations with the aim of reaching an understanding," Larijani was quoted as saying in the speech in the eastern city of Mashad.

"We are ready to negotiate and reach an agreement with Western countries in order to remove their worries about nuclear Iran without putting an end to our scientific development."

Throughout Iran on Monday, celebrations and demonstrations were taking place to mark what the country was calling the "National Nuclear Feast," as well as marking the date 27 years ago that Washington severed diplomatic relations with Tehran.

Bells rung at schools throughout the country, and the kids chanted slogans such as "Nuclear energy is an inalienable right of the Iranian nation", "No country has the right to deprive Iran of its indisputable right", and "The Iranian nation is in need of nuclear fuel cycle," state-run news agency IRNA said.

In Tehran, around 200 students gathered in front of the Atomic Energy Organization, chanting "death to America" and "death to Britain" and burning American and British flags, The Associated Press reported.

Up to 15,000 students also planned to hold hands around the Natanz plant to show their support for "Iran's peaceful ambitions, state-run news agency IRNA said.

Tensions between Iran and the West have also been heightened by last month's seizure of 15 British sailors and marines by Iranian forces while on patrol in the Persian Gulf. The 15 were released by Tehran last week after 13 days in Iranian detention. (New video shows Britons 'in comfort').

__________________
"So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

Shek

Los Angeles Times
April 13, 2007

ElBaradei Disputes Tehran's Claim Of 3,000 Centrifuges

The nuclear watchdog chief says a few hundred devices are active.

By Associated Press

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA — The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency said Thursday that Iran was operating only several hundred centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, despite its claims to have activated 3,000.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran's nuclear program was a concern but discounted its claims of a major advance in uranium enrichment, a process the U.N. demands Iran suspend or face increasing sanctions.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that the Natanz facility had begun "industrial-scale" production of nuclear fuel.

The country's top nuclear negotiator said workers had begun injecting uranium gas into a new array of 3,000 centrifuges, many more than the 328 centrifuges known to be operating at Natanz.

Experts say that 3,000 centrifuges would be enough in theory to develop a nuclear warhead in about a year, but they doubt Iran has that many devices successfully running.

ElBaradei said, "Iran is still just at the beginning stages in setting up its Natanz enrichment facility."

Iran ultimately aims to operate more than 50,000 of the devices at the site.

"The talk of building a facility with 50,000 centrifuges is just at the beginning, and it is only in the hundreds," ElBaradei told reporters in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

Diplomats in Vienna familiar with IAEA efforts said Iran was running only about 650 centrifuges in series, and that the machines were running empty.

Asim Aquil

Even if they've exxagerated the 3,000 figure and the 50,000 figure, there's a definite shift in Iranian mindset. Iran is signaling that it has reached a point of no return. From here on negotiations cannot ask to stop U enrichment. Maybe the negotiation path can have some sort of control in which it can be assured that the U is just being used for civilian purposes.

Another interesting this is how badly the common Iranian wants this too. They feel a sense of pride. It can no longer be argued that its just the regime which is on a nuclear path against the wishes of the people. This announcement, if nothing else, serves as a litmus test to the sensationalism associated with the nuke tech within Iran.

Attitudes have changed.

Dreadnought

It will come to a halt when the U.N. deems its had enough and other powers circumvent.

__________________
Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

Guardian

Do not be fooled by A-jad's propoganda. He is an international power player (or at least he thinks he is). This exaggeration is a tool as was the capture of the 15 British sailors. He wants the Iranian people to rally to his cause and he wants other Middle Eastern countries to realize that soon Iran will have nuclear capabilities. He is trying to stir up the hornets nest. Who can stop him from doing so? No one.

__________________
The history of the world is but the biography of great men.
-Thomas Carlyle